MRI Brain Without Contrast Cost in Kansas

Mri brain stem w/o dye

CPT 70551

Kansas Medicare physician rate (2026)

-7.9% vs national

Single statewide locality.

Kansas (Office)
$179.92
Non-facility physician fee
Kansas (Hospital)
$179.92
Facility physician fee
Private plan est.
$234–$360
~130–200% of Medicare
Cash / self-pay est.
$144–$270
~80–150% of Medicare

Your ZIP in Kansas

Enter a ZIP code for your part of Kansas, from Overland Park and the Kansas City suburbs to Wichita, Topeka, Lawrence, Salina, and the western High Plains.

What this number is

The figures on this page are 2026 Medicare physician allowed amounts for a specific CPT code: the professional fee, adjusted by geographic practice-cost indices. They are not a hospital chargemaster price, not your insurer's contracted rate, and not a quote. Hospital facility fees, anesthesia, implants, imaging reads, and pathology are billed separately when they apply.

National vs Kansas

National office$195.40
National hospital (physician)$195.40
Kansas vs national8% below the national office rate of $195.40

Where Kansas ranks for this CPT

Rank (lowest physician fee first)#7 of 51
Lowest stateArkansas ($173.48)
Highest stateAlaska ($227.30)

MRI Brain Without Contrast and how Kansas is priced

A single locality covers all of Kansas, with geographic indices in the lower national tier, so the published Medicare rates apply evenly from the Kansas City suburbs to the far western High Plains. Notably, the Kansas side of the Kansas City metro prices under the statewide Kansas locality while the Missouri side has its own metro locality, meaning the two halves of one city carry different approved amounts. Beyond that quirk, Kansas pricing is straightforwardly uniform. Wichita, Topeka, and rural Kansas all share the same adjustments.

The Kansas City metro and Wichita hold most of the state's specialists, with the academic medical center on the Kansas side of the metro serving as the top referral point. Western Kansas is genuinely frontier in places, with long distances to any hospital that performs advanced procedures, and some High Plains residents cross into Colorado or Nebraska for care. Critical access hospitals carry much of the rural load.

This procedure: A brain MRI without contrast uses a powerful magnet and radio waves, no radiation, to produce detailed pictures of the brain. It is ordered for headaches with warning signs, dizziness, memory concerns, seizure evaluation, or suspected multiple sclerosis. You lie still inside the scanner tube for 20 to 40 minutes while it makes loud knocking sounds; earplugs are provided, and no needles are involved for this non-contrast version.

What Is MRI Brain Without Contrast?

A brain MRI without contrast uses a powerful magnet and radio waves, no radiation, to produce detailed pictures of the brain. It is ordered for headaches with warning signs, dizziness, memory concerns, seizure evaluation, or suspected multiple sclerosis. You lie still inside the scanner tube for 20 to 40 minutes while it makes loud knocking sounds; earplugs are provided, and no needles are involved for this non-contrast version.

What Affects the Cost

  • Hospital-based MRI departments often charge several times what freestanding imaging centers charge for the identical scan.
  • The radiologist's interpretation fee is separate from the scan fee, and the two may come from different billers.
  • If the radiologist protocol adds contrast after reviewing initial images, the study converts to a costlier code and adds injection charges.
  • Claustrophobic patients who need sedation or an open-bore magnet add medication, monitoring, or specialty-equipment costs.
  • After-hours or stat interpretation requests can carry premium charges at some facilities.

Questions to Ask Before Booking

  • 1.Has prior authorization been approved, and for which specific facility?
  • 2.What is the price at a freestanding imaging center versus the hospital for this exact scan?
  • 3.Is the radiologist's reading fee included in the quote or billed separately?
  • 4.Could the protocol change to include contrast, and what would that cost?
  • 5.If I am claustrophobic, what would sedation or an open MRI add?

MRI Brain Without Contrast in Kansas: questions

How much does mri brain without contrast cost in Kansas?

Kansas is a single Medicare locality for this fee schedule. The 2026 physician rate for CPT 70551 is $179.92 in an office and $179.92 in a hospital, statewide. A ZIP lookup still confirms the locality mapping.

Does the rate change inside Kansas?

Not on the physician fee schedule. Kansas uses one locality, so the Medicare physician rate is the same from one end of the state to the other. What still changes is site of service (office vs hospital) and any facility fee the hospital bills on its own claim.

What will a Medicare patient owe for the physician fee?

After the Part B deductible, coinsurance is usually 20% of the allowed amount: about $36 for the office physician line or $36 for the hospital physician line in Kansas. Medigap may cover that 20%. This is not the hospital facility fee.

Is this the full mri brain without contrast bill in Kansas?

No. $179.92 is the Medicare physician allowed amount for CPT 70551. Anesthesia, facility fees, implants, and other CPT codes billed the same day are extra. Kansas ranks #7 of 51 states on this physician line (8% below the national office rate of $195.40).

Data source: 2026 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (CMS PPRRVU26B, released March 2026). Conversion factor: $33.4009. Prices shown are Medicare allowed amounts for the physician service and may not match what you are billed. Private insurance and self-pay ranges, when shown, are labeled estimates (typical multiples of Medicare), not quotes. This site is an independent cost tool, not medical advice.